What the Dream Maker Dreams
by Houndnwolf
Summary: Enter the life of the Dream Yokai of Gensokyo, Saylum. Between working at the SDM and seeing people's dreams, many things are known, and others discovered. What happens in the devil's house to a very special person? How much can a dream change everything?
1. Caught RedPawed

**Well, I love wolves. I love Touhou. I love the Scarlet Devil Mansion. And most of all I love blood. So of course this would come out. Enjoy~!**

**Chapter 1: So begins the task...**

_My name is Saylum and I am 3,018 years old but look no more that thirteen which is normal for most yokai. I have gone through many changes in my life. I am now the dream yokai of Gensokyo when just a decade before, I was a lowly wolf yokai. A lot can change in a short amount of time; such is the way of Gensokyo. Those changes lead me to like Gensokyo but I will tell you about that another time. I now spent a lot of time in Gensokyo; especially at the Scarlet Devil Mansion…_

"Saylum! Saylum, get down from there, you lazy yokai," a familiar voice rang in my ear.

It took me a minute to understand where I was. Let's see, I just lost a danmaku battle with Marisa and needed to rest. I opened one of my lazy eyes. I looked down and saw a demon looking up at me. She had on a black dress and two sets of leathery wings, one on her back and one on her head. Her hair was long and scarlet like her tie. Her name was Koakuma. She had been here many years but that never stopped my superiority. She didn't seem happy to find I had fallen asleep atop one of Patchy's huge bookcases. Again. I closed my eyes again and heard her stomp her foot in frustration. I had to try hard to stifle a snicker._ She's too cute when she is flustered_~. Then I went back to trying to remember something.

Then I felt a sharp blow to my forehead. I opened my eyes in time to see Koakuma looking thoroughly pissed and then my gaze was shifted towards the floor that was on its way to meet me... I yelped. I hate how high these bookcases are, even though they were very comfortable. I landed on my head and that woke me the rest of the way up. I barely got to a sitting position before Koakuma floated down in front of me.

"It has been four days, Saylum. Time for you to go talk to Sakuya about your assignment," she scolded as I sat up. It took a moment for the star to clear from my eyes. The look on her face was on the edge of smugness. It was time to play the game.

"Come on, Koa. I just spent the night here. I wasn't going to stay," I half-heartedly whined.

When I first came to the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the mistress, Remilia Scarlet, thought that I deserved access to the mansion any time (but not without a fight). After I had claimed victory, she looked to me with respect. Then she offered me the chance to come have tea with her and like an idiot I accepted. However, she tricked me. In the tea was a curse that made me promise that if I stayed in the mansion for more than three days, I had to work or forever be Remilia's servant (and without pay, by the way). It kept me from free loading, as well as being bored. She didn't have the slightest idea how much I enjoyed having this agreement.

"It is half-part noon. Sakuya should be on the third floor," Koakuma said too smugly (I'll fix that later). Just to play along, I pouted and folded my arms childishly. Koa giggled and patted me on the head before turned from me and walking to another part of the library to do Patchy's bidding. I waited for a minute to make sure she was gone. Then I pulled up a grin that soon began to hurt. I loved working here because there was always something to do and maids to play with.

I got to my feet. Then after the stars cleared from my vision I left the library. I then made my way to the oversized foyer and up the stairs. Half way up, I was greeted by my fairy friend named Sam. She wore the usual maid outfit but her hair came to almost her waist and her bangs swayed to the side as if blown by the wind. Her golden hair made her look unique in comparison to the other maids. And that I liked.

"Over stayed your welcome again, huh?" She guessed with a smile.

I returned it warmly. "Yeah. I think that Koakuma is waiting for me to slip up just so she can scold me for it." Then showing mock sadness I declared," She is so mean to me!" Then, I pretended to faint. Sam giggled. She had such a nice laugh that seemed to echo in my head long after the joke was said and done. That's how we became friends so quickly...

After she settled a bit, she rested her hand on my shoulder. "Sakuya is at the top of the next flight." Then she looked slightly off in the distance, not really talking to me but to a being that was invisible to me. "She looks like she is expecting you." She gave my shoulder a quick squeeze. Then she headed down the stairs.

Upon hearing that, I became serious and all I could reply was a whispered, "yeah".

When I got to the second floor stairway, sure enough, Sakuya Izayoi was at the top of the stair looking down at me from the bottom step. There was an eerie feeling about our positions. The way I had to look up to see her on the stairs just above me was a physical metaphor for our roles. _Weird how that happens when you know you're in trouble_. Her blue eyes were looking at me coldly but they seemed to be hiding another emotion, something between smugness and pity. She had her arms folded as always and she looked amused despite the message her eyes were sending. I shivered. She had definitely been waiting for me.

"Come along," she commanded without even so much as a greeting. I followed her to what was apparently "my room". It was simple; an unused bed (the bookcases were better) with a handmade quilt, a dresser made of pure bamboo, a closet that had almost nothing in it, and a small wooden chair in the corner with an unfinished book in the seat. She told me to sit on the bed and I obeyed. That's how it was with Miss Sakuya; she told me to do something and I would obey, no questions asked. Sakuya then went to my closet. It was mesmerizing to see how every movement she makes was elegant. It was like she was dancing and I couldn't help the pink rising to my cheeks. She moved some of my other clothes (two or three) around in my closet and pulled out my maid outfit. It looked the same as the uniforms the other maids wore but it was one noticeable difference.

The skirt was cut way shorter. I hated it with a passion.

Before I could protest, I was in my uniform and Sakuya was hanging up the clothes I had had on just a millisecond ago. I yelped in surprised and then gave Sakuya a look that said _I hated when you did that. _Come to think of it, why was I thinking about it?

"I hate when you do that," I spoke aloud. A speck of amusement flashed across her eyes before she closed my semi dust covered closet and made her way (still elegantly) to the bed. She stopped a good distance from me but I could still see all of her features (thank you yokai eyes). Then her eyes set on me.

"Let's see," Sakuya murmured trying to think of my task for the day. It usually turned out to be a punishment for staying to long in the first place. I couldn't keep from looking her over now that she wasn't paying me much attention.

Her silver hair sparkled in the sunlight from the window and I had to resist the urge to run my fingers through it and feel the silkiness of it. Then my eyes moved to her face that looked elegant even when riddled with thinking lines. I sometimes imagined putting my hands around her cheeks and just looking into those delicious pools of blue and maybe even pull her in to indulge in her lips on mine... I moved further down. Every feature on her was picture perfect. Divine. Awesome. Then, I glanced back up and stopped at her neck. There was something hidden a little behind a lock of her hair. If I weren't so close, I never would have noticed. I leaned in and tried to see what had caught my eye. I saw that they were two identical marks on her neck. Then, without thinking, I knew what I saw. I didn't need to think any further on the matter. I was never going to get my word in on something like this.

I snapped out of my train of thought as Sakuya had found my task. She turned to me and studied my face. "Is something troubling you?"

I immediately tilted my head down, making my hair cover my face; I habit that I couldn't quit. This always happened when I was questioned and I wasn't at my best. "It's nothing, Sakuya-sama."

Her ice blue eyes began scanning me trying to find out the problem in my face. I kept my head down. _She can't found out what she can't see_. Then her hand grabbed my chin and gently lifted my head up so she could see my face. I felt heat rushing to my face and my heart moved into overdrive. I was being made to look my superior in the face and I swear I would have been hypnotized by her beauty. The fact that she was touching my face had cleared my face of any previous emotion saving me from explanations.

Sakuya seemed to know this too and let go of my face. I let my gaze drop to the floor again. She gave me one more look over before deciding to let it go with a sickening smile. I then realized I had leaned almost all the way off the bed closer to her. I quickly got up from the bed and stepped a few steps seemed to not notice as her smile was so big that it made her have to close her eyes to make room for it on her face.

"You are to play with Mistress Flandre today," she stated. My heart sank. Any pleasant thoughts I was having about her turned to dust at this task but it was short lived as my eyes crept up to her neck once more. She turned to the left in the hall and disappeared among the many corridors of the dark mansion (still gracefully might I add).

The basement hallway was cold and empty. I had long since gotten used to it but today I could not stop shivering. Stupid short skirt. It wasn't long before, I stood in front of the steel door that let to Flandre's room. It always made me sad seeing this door. What was behind this door still haunts me today. It looked like the door to a prison rather than to a little girl's room. I sighed. Remember, Flan was once a force to be restrained. She might still be. I never tried to find out for sure.

I knocked on the steel door and flinched at how it echoed down the almost empty corridor.

"Who is it?" Flandre's sweet voice called from the other side. Just hearing that she was okay brought a gentle smile to my face, remembering the days she wasn't always covered in blood. Then I saw two red dots in the middle of the room glaring in my direction.

"Saylum", I answered cautiously. The red dots blinked with a new kind of emotion I couldn't identify. I stepped inside the room and tried to use echo location and find the little demon. "You must be bored down here all alo-"I never finished the sentence as the door swung closed and Flan tackled me to the cold, marble floor.

"I missed you, little yokai~!"

I froze underneath her embrace. It took me a while to get my senses back mostly because I was trying to recover my breath back from the impact. Still too strong for her own good I see.

She snuggled the small of my back and giggled. Finally, she let go and allowed me to sit up. I didn't have to see her to tell that she was grinning extensively. I remembered when she always smiled like that but it didn't feel staged, like it was hiding the horrible illness of insanity under its veil. Back then, I could play and fight with Flandre without fear or worry. Then, she got too happy, too playful, too isolated. I use to laugh at her excitement over playing but now it pained me to see her innocent little face.

A slight shift brought my thoughts back but Miss Flandre was no longer beside me.

The darkness did not hinder my sight but I could not sense her nearby. I looked to my left and right but there was nothing there. I looked frantically around me but she was nowhere in sight. It was like she disappeared. Then I hear her giggle. That sickingly sweet giggle that sent shivers down my spine every time I heard it. It came from everywhere and yet nowhere.

"Now we can play~!"

This was not good. If I wanted to stay out of harm's way, I had to find her and not let her out of my field of sense lest I be caught off guard. I thought about using echolocation to find her but dismissed it. It didn't help that she kept giggling…

Suddenly, the air shifted. At first, I couldn't locate it but then it seemed to be moving in a downward spiral and coming towards…my right! I side-stepped and Flandre missed me by a millimeter. She was kneeling on the ground where I had stood not a second ago. She wasted no time bringing her leg up for a round house kick. I jumped to the right but she stomped her foot on the floor and the force was transferred to her left arm instead. I was trapped as she raised her claw like nail above her head and giggled.

This is going to hurt…!

And it did.

This is going to be more grueling than anticipated.

~ooOoo~

If someone had walked into the basement, they would think hell and heaven had just played football. The marble floor was cracked and stained red in some spots. The furniture was either missing, broken in many pieces, or flung into multiple directions. The wall had a crater that surrounded a hole that looked identical to my figure…you connect the dots.

Flandre was in the middle of the floor (with only a few scratches might I add) staring at me. I may look unconscious but I am not out yet. Aside from my body being bloody and bruised and my numb limbs, I felt like a million freaking bucks!

"You've gotten weak. If I knew how breakable you had become, I wouldn't have played so rough. I'm sorry", she mumbled.

"It's okay", I mumbled with some exertion. She couldn't control her strength and I haven't seen her in a while so she might have just gotten stronger. That was grounds enough to forgive my pain.

She turned from me and called down the hallway. A few fairy maids fluttered in and soon I was being carried to my room (or at least I think it was my room, I wasn't paying close attention). The fairy that laid me down on the bed examined my wounds. She then went down under the bed and came back up with a medical kit. She took out some bandages and was about to start patching up my arm but held up my other hand.

"You don't have to, I can do it myself", I choked taking the kit from her. She looked perplexed and worried but let it go and fled from the room. I began to wrap my left arm in the sterile bindings. As I finally got it around three times, suddenly it was fully wrapped. I stared at it in disbelief but soon found my entire body cleaned and bandaged. I threw a quick glance at the door and, sure enough, Sakuya stood there with a haunting look on her face.

**AN: Hooray/sorry for the slight cliff hanger. Sam is a fairyfied version of my best friend who is an awesome golfer and fun playmate! I haven't thought this story through at all but I have learned that those are the best kind of stories~! I hope you don't think poorly of me or my story.**


	2. In Dreams We Trust

_My name is Saylum. I have been at the Scarlet Devil Mansion for some time now and if you asked, I could tell the names every fairy that works there, tell you every event that has happened in this building, or even tell you all the gossip that sometimes spills from the other maids minds. However, the one thing I can never tell is what Miss Sakuya is thinking no matter how long I have been here…_

* * *

><p>I couldn't help the frown on my face. She had stopped time again and did all my bandages for me. I could have done it without help but I dare not say that to her face at that moment. The worst part was I was no longer in my work clothes; I was back in my white shirt and black pants that I usually wore when I…well, wasn't working. Then a thought hit me: she had to remove my previous clothes…more than once at that!<p>

"You know I hate it when you do that," I chimed trying to hide my clearly blushing face from her.

She chuckled briefly but her face went right back to being serious. That was one thing about Sakuya; she was all business.

She is always serious. Her arms were always folded over her chest, her eyes were always blue steel; never betraying anything through these eyes of hers. This time though, I saw something; a small crack in her usual mask of superiority that she tried so hard to up-held. It looked like worry. But that can't be! She doesn't worry about the rest of her maids, much less this yokai staring back at her. No, all she cares about is Mistress Remilia and the marks on her neck prove that. And yet, I feel so…

I was pulled from my thoughts when she began to speak. I seem to be doing that a lot today.

"You have gotten weak, Saylum. You should go back and train with Meiling like you used to. If you leave, I will not stop you but keep in mind; if you stay, your work load will be doubled." She hesitated at the door like she was expecting an answer. When I didn't give her one, she turned the corner and disappeared from my sight.

I released a breath that I didn't know I was holding. Why do I only feel this tense around her? I know I have questionable interests but, really now, this is not good for my health.

Maybe I need to do a little dream hopping. After all, it has been at least five weeks since I've played with a dream. It would do me some good to dream hop a bit considering it will give me plenty of time to rest.

I reached into my shirt and pulled out the necklace around my neck; the small piece of glass on the end of the string began to glow and the light got brighter and warmer. A dream was close by. I bathed in the light as it slowly absorbed me. The nearest dream to the mansion is…in the human village.

* * *

><p>The dreamers name is Minus.<p>

There he stood, in between two armies; his family on the right and another army of another family on the left. He remembered this scene and he already knew who would win. How he knew is not because he has faith in them, not because they are important to him, and not because he has seen this battle many times before.

He thinks they will win because he says they are right. Right is right and non-believers are wrong; His family is right and the others are wrong. That's just how it goes. His poor soul actually believes that.

Among the enemy army, He saw his young friend, Rue, he calls her, simply standing there with no armor or weapon and looking anxious. He remembers how quiet she used to be, never standing up for herself or the ones she cared about. Suddenly, He found himself on a hill next to an old oak a few yards away from the battlefield, giving the both of us a good view of everything. The looks on both armies' faces are determined, as they should be; it is a feud after all.

Then we heard the war cry, and they fought. And fought and fought. They fought for days, weeks, years, millennia, never stopping. The only thing that indicated the passage of time was the tree constantly changing and losing its leaves. They fought like animals and the roar that emitted from the mast of bodies was enough to shake the world. There were bodies dropping all over the field from my army and her army but it seemed that two more soldiers would replace them and continue.

Through all the blood and carnage, I heard Rue's voice, shrill and weak, crying out in the crowd. She is pleading with them all to stop. If I understood the situation better, I would go immediately to her aid but the dreamer seems to have a different opinion.

"Does she really think that she can stop this with such a weak voice? You should have spoken up before it came to this moment," Minus sneers. His voice makes me tremble; not from fear but anger at his attitude. She keeps crying as more and more bodies hit the ground and are trampled by the other troops, all bloody and tired but they never stop fighting.

It is a very interesting sight to see people you know and love die but then watch their ancestors kill the offender and so on and so forth. Then, I noticed Rue has changed. She is no longer the weak little girl who was crying out a few moments (or days, or months, or years…) ago. Now she was in armor and holding a sword but she is still begging for everyone to stop. Her gaze turns to Minus and she froze. No, not just her; everything has slowed to a standstill as if someone has pressed pause on the whole scene.

Her eyes, stronger than before, were pleading louder than her voice was not long ago. She acts like he is her only hope to end this war. Why would she do that?

"It is just so interesting to see and I'm not worried about my family because they are right and you and the others are wrong; you are wrong and must be shown what happens when you choose the wrong side," he says coldly. I grit my teeth at his harsh tone. Wait, Saylum. If you jump in too early, it will be a lost cause. Time started again.

She has gone back to shouting for everyone to stop fighting, her voice now older then before but hoarse from overuse. I see her shed a few tears as more people fall to the ground and I want nothing more than to force the dream to end. I want nothing more than to tell her that its okay and to calm down. This human, that I can feel this man loves more than his own life, I want nothing more than to reach out and pull her from the mist of this war. Wait, these are not my feelings. These are his feelings. He wants to stop this madness too! If he really wants it, I could manipulate the dream and make it stop. I look down at him and see the pained look on his face as he watches her. I sit in the ever changing tree and watch as she continues to be emotionally ripped apart until he speaks again.

"Shut up." That was that. One of his family members came out of nowhere and struck her from behind, silencing her forever. I looked in horror from her to him and back. Then he muttered, "It was her own fault, she chose their side instead of mine."

Suddenly, I see an onslaught of memories of them. There are a lot of memories, enough to last a lifetime of just him spending time with Rue. They shared lunch, talked, went shopping, her laugh, her voice, her everything in every memory. He loves her. He loves her more than anything…

"What is wrong with you?"I hear myself screech as I jump down from the tree behind Minus. The weird part is that my voice sounds a lot like Rue's. "You're family is fighting with your best friend's family. You have known her since you can't even remember. Your friend wants it to stop and you watch her die all because of some selfish logic?" I am seething with rage at this man before me and he just looks at me blankly like I am not even here. I am not that easy to be forgotten. Then within my mind I manipulate the dream.

Then I point to the field. "This is all you will ever achieve that way," she said gravely. The field was silent, and errie compared to how it was not two seconds ago. Minus turned back to where the battle should be raging but the strangest thing is that it is over. The two endless armies are all sprawled out on the ground, died.

"Why are all my family died? We were right so we were supposed to win. Why did we lose? This can't be!" he muttered under his breath. He just doesn't get it. I bend the dream even more.

Then, he saw his mother lying on her back in a position where she is looking at Minus even though she is died. His father was in a similar position as like his uncles and aunts and...his whole generation seems to take over the entire field and the other army is nowhere to be seen. All of their eyes were trained on Minus, dead but accusing, as if their death was his fault. In a way, it really was.

"It wasn't my fault at all! The reason they were fighting was to stop the heretics! I didn't do it! It was…the yokai!" he choked out and turned back to see me breathing hard, wearing the enemy armor and holding a spear similar to the one Rue was killed with, covered in blood. He backed away carefully. Like hell you are getting away from me. This may be your dream but you are disgusting me just by standing there.

"Right and wrong is not determined by directions or a single person's opinion," I stated as I brought the spearhead close to Minus's neck. "It especially should not be determined by a fool like you," I managed through clenched teeth . Then I did the ultimate bend of the dream and crafted an image of Rue right in front of him. She looked as furious as I felt and I made her take the spear out of my hand and backed Minus against the tree with the spear firmly against his neck. Still in the my voice she muttered, "but you aren't really as much of a fool as you act, are you?"

He didn't get to answer as I force the image of Rue to cram the spear through his neck.

* * *

><p>Minus sat bolt upward in his bed with a cry cut short as he finally realized he was awake. Panting as if he had just run a marathon, the man of twenty three ran a hand through his hair and wait a moment for his heart to calm down to it's regular rythem. Minus then let his hands fall to his lap and looked at them thoughtfully.<p>

"Don't let your mind cloud your feelings," I growl at him. The man froze and then slowly turned towards the door to his bedroom. There he saw me in all my powerful glory. I stomped over to his bed until I could see my reflection in his dark brown eyes.

"Make it better," I whisper in his ear, making him shudder. I then made myself turn to fog. Well, to Minus I did. Being the yokai of dreams, I can easily create illusions for humans and yokai alike with little to no trouble.

I headed to the open window of his room. I immediately took flight through it and into the crisp fall air. The fact of the matter is that now he will probably tell everyone and their mommas that he got visited but the dream yokai and probably not know what I had told him in his dream. A waste of time since humans can't remember their dreams very well. Heck he might be in his room right now, thinking I was just another part of his strangely realistic dream.

I sighed and flew higher into the sky.


End file.
